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Nielsen: Avg. U.S. homes Watch Same Number of Channels Weekly

The average TV household receives more channels, but watches about the same number of channels weekly, according to Nielsen’s annual report on TV trends released Friday, June 4.

In 2007 the average U.S. home received 118.6 channels, an all time high, up from 104.2 channels in 2006. The average household tuned-in to 16 or 13 percent of the 118.6 channels at least 10 minutes per week compared to 2006 when the average household tuned-in 15.7 channel, or 15 percent of the receivable channels.

Among other trends cited in the study:

Advertisers still prefer 30-second commercials to 15s, with 60s making up only a small percentage of all units. Across both English and Spanish-language broadcast networks (2007 was the first year Nielsen included data on Spanish-language networks), 30-second commercials account for 60 percent of all units. Among Anglo networks, the number of 30s has decreased slightly to 55 percent, down from 57 percent in 2006 and 58 percent in 2005, while 15s have increased, up to 38 percent from 33 percent the previous year.

The type of program networks air hasn’t changed much year over year, with dramas dominating network schedules, comprising 38 percent of 243 programs aired on both English and Spanish-language broadcast networks. For the 2006-2007 TV season, there were a total of 92 dramas on both English and Spanish-language broadcast networks. The next most popular program type was variety (56), followed by situation comedies (33). A catch-all category that includes reality shows sports, animation and quiz shows accounted for 34 programs.